Penpal
by Stephy825
Summary: A little exchange between two boys from two very far places...through handwritten letters. /CafeMocha fluff/
1. 1st Exchange

**Penpal**

_Summary : A little exchange between two boys from two far places...through handwritten letters._

Chapter 1 - Introductions

Ash was bored. Really, really bored. So bored that if ever possible it would break him if the silence in his house continued any longer. Sitting on his wooden chair, the boy fiddled the small pencil with his mouth as he stared at nothing in particular. The nine-year-old was resting his chin on his palm when he noticed one of his neighbors walking outside to a mailbox. Strange, the sun was so hot outside that going out was like being under a sauna. The onyx-haired child watched silently as the kid downstairs slipped an envelope in the box and went back inside his house with a grin. "Huh, I wonder who's he sending his letter to?"

With his curiosity piqued, Ash stood up, went out of his room and went down the stairs; finding his mom cleaning the living room with a broomstick. He asked the question to what he just saw, and she replied with a smile. "Oh, he must be replying to his penpal."

"Penpal?" he repeated; confused.

"It's a person that you exchange letters with. A great way to make friends with others who are far away."

"But wouldn't it be easier to use the computer..? Why did he put his letter in the mailbox?"

She shrugged a little; not losing her grin. "I guess it's because it's much better that way." suddenly Delia perked up a little. The boy cringed a little; he recognized those sparkly eyes..."You're...you're going to get me a penpal aren't you..."

The female brunette looked surprised. "Am I that predictable?" he nodded silently without hesitation. "Well you are bored aren't you? At least you can do something while waiting for your tenth birthday-"

"Which is still months away mom. And how are you going to get me a penpal in the first place?"

"Just leave everything to me~!" she beamed back at her son. He sweat-dropped, hoping that it wouldn't be one of those weird ideas that backfires on him.

-o-

Ash's hands quivered as he held his pencil tightly. He didn't expect for his mom to suddenly tell him to write something to his new penpal and not say anything else. He didn't even know where the person lived. All that Delia told him was the person's name...and that's it. He sighed as he wondered what to write. Heck he was only nine...what would a nine-year-old write to a mysterious person?

"Might as well get this over with..." he mumbled as he positioned himself to start writing.

_To: Cilan_

_Hi, my name's Ash. My mom_

"Wait, I don't think it's a good idea to write that down." scratching the words out, he inhaled deeply and started again.

_I'm nine-years-old and I like Pokémon. Do you like Pokémon? Where do you live? How old are you?_

_Sorry, I'm asking too much questions aren't I? This is my first time writing a letter to someone so I'm not sure what to say._

_I hope you reply soon._

_From, Ash_

"There, that should do it."

-o-

The boy didn't expect the letter to come back the next day. He found himself running downstairs after he saw a mailman putting something in their own mailbox (something that they haven't used in a long time.) A little nervous, he took out the seal on the envelope and read the letter; scanning the paper itself first before reading it. The letter was written in a fine script; the paper itself looked like it was meant for things like this. With a gulp, he started to read...and couldn't help but smile afterwards.

"Maybe this is a good idea after all..."

_To: Ash_

_Nice to meet you penpal. Did your mom suggest this idea to you? Don't worry, I find it nice to have someone else to talk to._

_I'm thirteen and of course I like _Pokémon_ . It would be pretty strange if your mom got you a penpal that hates _Pokémon _ don't you think?_

_It's okay. This is my first time writing a letter too. It's quite refreshing actually. Speaking of which, does that mean you are planning to become a trainer when you turn ten?_

_Hm, it looks like I'm the one asking too much questions. I hope to hear from you soon._

_Sincerely, Cilan_

* * *

><p><strong>AN : **If you're asking why I'm writing this, it's because I feel like there isn't much CafeMocha shipping around here. But of course this story isn't going to fly off in to another one of those "I love you" relationships. Nope. Just some fluff, and a little experimentation since I haven't watched Best Wishes series yet. Ahaha...I have no idea what Cilan's personality is. Or his age.

Please review? :D


	2. 2nd Exchange

Chapter 2 - Trainer Info

_To: Cilan_

_I'm writing this really late at night. My mom's gonna kill me if she finds out I'm still awake. But that's not going to stop me from writing! I'll just slip in the letter in the mail-box before I go to sleep._

_Of course I'm gonna become a trainer! It's been my greatest dream to become a Pokémon Master! But the annoying thing is that I have to wait so long for my tenth birthday._

"I wonder...will I be able to continue writing to him when I'm on my journey..?" the boy mumbled while fiddling his pencil with his mouth again. The room was dark; the only thing that was illuminating the room was the small desk lamp on Ash's table. The moon was covered by a lot of clouds along with the stars; which made the sky above quite black compared to those normal nights. It made his room a whole lot darker...and the tiny amount of light wasn't helping. He couldn't open the bigger light on the ceiling though because he was supposed to be sleeping already. (It couldn't be helped that his mom kept him busy the whole day for some reason.) Trying to remember what else he wrote in the first letter he sent him, the child perked up when he recalled something.

_You know I only noticed now that you didn't answer the other question I asked you before. Where do you live? Since it's my mom that writes down the address (I don't know why) I have no clue where you are. I hope you aren't far away, that way I can visit you when I become a Pokémon Trainer!_

He smiled to himself. If he couldn't continue writing to him, then at least he could look forward to meeting him in person.

_Since you're a whole lot older, does that mean that you're a trainer too? Then that means we can battle next time! Now I can't wait for my birthday!_

_I have to sleep soon, I actually yawned in the middle of writing this you know? Good night!_

_From, Ash_

-o-

_To: Ash_

_Ahaha, is that so? I hope that you had sweet dreams then. You should probably not try something like that again; moms tend to be quite scary sometimes when their angry..._

_It's worth the wait Ash...to become a trainer I mean. There's a reason why you have to be ten in order to go on a journey on your own. Imagine if you're all alone with nobody but your Pokemon; I think you need to be a little older to do something like that don't you think?_

_Oh right, sorry. I thought that you already knew my address. I live in Striaton City which is in Unova. Sadly, it is quite far away from Kanto, but I'm sure we'll meet each other face to face eventually._

"Cilaaan..!" the teen cringed for a moment as he tried not to let the ink spill on the paper. Setting down the only fountain pen he has on his desk, he looked behind him and asked what was going on. "Come down here! I think I was able to burn water!" his brother, Chili, replied while sounding proud. "Problem is that he took the whole kitchen along with his burning experiment." another voice yelled from below. "Just come down here. Please!" with a groan the green-haired male stood up from his chair and walked out of the room; leaving the letter he was writing behind.

Sometimes, he wondered how he ended up being the brother that has to fix everything. Leaving Chili and Cress alone would always result in to trouble one way or another; but Cilan never got around to tell them about his younger penpal...and felt a little embarrassed to do so. He had a bad vision of his red head brother bugging him about when's he going to write to him and all that. He didn't like the idea of being annoyed, so this little exchange was going to be kept secret. Anyway, this was only the second letter; nothing worrying as of yet.

Now on the first floor he only turned to the left to see smudges of black on the walls going to the kitchen. He sighed before bracing himself for the horrible scene to come...and to think he spent the whole afternoon yesterday cleaning the room till it was spotless.

"There you are Cilan." Cress, the eldest triplet said casually as he noticed him enter the room. He extended his arm and gestured him to focus his attention on a lone pot on a stove. The container was already pitch black, but what was inside looked even darker than the pot itself (and Cilan thought that wasn't possible.) "_This_ is water?"

"Yep!" Chili, the youngest, beamed. "Cress dared me that I would burn a pot full of water or else I'll be stuck with his chores for a month. I gotta admit, I didn't think you had to set the temperature up that high to make it turn black."

The green-haired male sweat-dropped. "I didn't even know that burning water was possible."

"Me either, until Chili did it." the red head suddenly realized what his brother said. "Wait, you gave me an impossible dare?"

Cress shrugged. "It _was_ impossible till you somehow broke the law of nature."

"Hey wait, if you were trying to burn water, what's with all of this then?" Cilan questioned the two while he scanned what was left of the kitchen. Well, it wasn't so bad save the fact that nearly every kitchen utensil seemed to have been covered in soot. "Oh, right after I was able to burn the water, it exploded."

Cilan mentally face-palmed. "I swear if mom and dad were here to see this..."

"Yeah, but they aren't." the eldest triplet muttered; which left them with a short awkward silence. "Well, if this is all you're going to tell me, it's pretty obvious to who's going to clean this mess up."

Chili whined. "I was hoping that you would do it Cilan."

"Hey, this is your problem. Besides, you two were the ones that caused this in the first place. Cress, you have to help Chili with this."

Now it was the blue-haired teen's turn to groan. "Sometimes I wonder how you still get to boss us around even though I'm the eldest."

After making sure the two were actually cleaning the kitchen and not goofing off, Cilan went back upstairs to his room and sighed. It was already hard enough to keep the house in order with only the three of them in charge of the place. Plus, it wasn't even theirs...they were just there because one of his dad's friends lent it to them. But he couldn't pay the rent forever; at some point they have to buy it with their own money. The problem is that they don't have any idea how. Chili wants to become a gym leader while Cress just wants to live in luxury somehow. And for Cilan...he didn't know. He liked cooking and making tea... but what good will those skills do?

The teen shook his head a little as he tried to clear his thoughts. His eyes drifted to the lone piece of stationary on his desk; that made him perk up a little. "Oh right, I haven't finished my letter yet." not in a rush, he grabbed the chair and sat down; trying to make himself comfortable first before picking up his nice fountain pen. "Now, where was I? Those two made me lose my trail of thought..." glancing at the other paper with a child's writing on it, he smiled to himself and continued to write.

_Actually, I'm not a trainer. My parents have been gone ever since I was little, so there really was no time for us to actually go on a journey. _

"Especially with the huge amount of debt they left us with." he muttered; yet decided not to mention that to his penpal.

_I think you'll become a great trainer Ash. Remember that pokémon aren't just there to battle, they can be your greatest friends if you allow them to be. They are creatures that also have feelings, likes, and dislikes. Don't ever forget that, alright?_

_Sincerely, Cilan_

* * *

><p><strong>AN : **Uhm, sorry for taking a while with this chapter. From here on out, I think the POVs will change in a pattern. So expect the next chapter to be on Ash's side. I'm also not going to necessarily write down every letter they sent each other. The next few letters may skip a bit in time, but it won't be so hard to catch up.

I kind of like working with the triplets now. XD A-uhm, please review! Oh yeah, please check this out if you support CafeMocha Shipping (remove the spaces): _cafemochashipping. webs. com_


	3. 3rd Exchange

_cafemochashipping. webs. com_

_Please visit and look at the forums! This site is what inspired me to write this story. :) If people join, I'll update this faster! I swear!  
><em>

* * *

><p>Chapter 3 - Goals<p>

_My parents have been gone ever since I was little, so there really was no time for us to actually go on a journey._

It had been a sleepless night for Ash as he thought over one line his penpal had written for him; his mind was filled with questions that he desperately wanted to be answered (not just to satisfy his curiosity; he was worried that there may be something bothering his newfound friend). The boy wondered if Cilan lived alone or if he had brothers and/or sisters...he didn't seem like a person who was alone (in fact, Ash would bet that he had two younger brothers that depended on him for all kinds of things). He tried to think it over; create scenarios as deep as a nine-year-old could; but no matter what he thought of, there was nothing he could do other than to sleep. That was the only thing that would be required for him at this point..."I'll ask him tomorrow..." he mumbled while clutching the stationary in his hand; gripping it as if it was the most valuable thing in his life.

Before long, Ash opened his eyes and found himself under blinding sunlight. He groaned, kicked off his blanket, and got out of bed; rubbing his eyes with his usual sleepy face. His onyx-colored hair was completely messed up (he was sure that Gary would've laughed at him if he saw him like this) and his bed could've been better. Nevertheless, he was glad that the paper he held wasn't that badly crumpled (or drooled on) and set it down on his desk neatly. He wanted to get started on that letter as soon as he can; yet sleeping took the urge out of him, now he just wanted to eat breakfast.

Without changing or anything, he wore his light blue slippers and ran downstairs; already smelling the fried eggs in the air. His mom greeted him as usual and Ash replied the same way with less enthusiasm. It was obvious that he was still sleepy and tired; yet that expression vanished completely when a plate full of food was set down in front of him. "Eat now, write later; I'm starving!" he thought while dispelling all other doubts and questions in his mind.

He was soon finished, quickly dressed himself and freshened up. Grabbing whatever gear he had that could possibly lead to a new adventure, he was about to go out the door when he recalled Cilan's letter. The boy glanced back before thinking _I'll do it later_ and went out of his house; breathing in the fresh air of Pallet Town.

Ash walked on the familiar main road leading to the outskirts of town; the small forest and hills that contain various wild Kanto pokémon. Clenching on his backpack's strap, he ran in to the sea of trees without even realizing that someone was following him. The breeze combined with the sounds of the forest was relaxing to his ears; he had been adventuring in these kinds of places for as long as he could remember. Spotting a few wild Pidgey nearby, he took a small piece of the sandwich he had in his bag and threw it on the ground; urging them to go closer. The bird pokémon did so and approached without caution; they knew about him; they had seen him yesterday and the days before that. If he was offering food, that was how far it would go; no traps or anything.

At this point more pokémon were emerging from the bushes and trees. Caterpies, Rattatas, Spearows, all the usual wild pokémon gathered around waiting for a free bite to eat at the same time meet the boy again. Ash wondered what it would be like to train one of them; these pokémon that have a fleeting friendship (he liked to consider that they were already friends) with him. He already decided that he wouldn't go back to this forest though when he would start his journey. He wanted to explore the unknown, meet more pokémon and make new friends. The thought of receiving his starter excited him; because of this he reacted too late when something ambushed him from behind; causing all the pokémon to jump back and hide. "Got you Ash!"

The onyx-haired boy groaned as he tried to escape but failed to do so. "Gary, get off me!"

"Fat chance!" the spiky-haired brunette replied with a big smirk while sitting on top of the child's back. "I can't let you get ahead of me when studying about Pokémon now can I? Our birthdays are coming up and when I leave Pallet Town, I am going to come back being the greatest Pokémon Master of all of Kanto. And more importantly be better. Than. You." he stressed the last few words with confidence while still pinning his childhood rival on the ground. "Well, I'm gonna be a Pokémon Master too you know! And I'm gonna beat you in a battle fair and square!"

"Heh, you can't even beat me like this. How are you going to win against me in a Pokémon battle?"

Surprisingly, a Rattata suddenly came out from the bushes and tackled Gary; falling off of Ash's back and his back connecting to the ground. The normal type grinned; showing its large two bucked teeth as it did not move from its position on the brunette's chest. "Simple, I'll use my Pokémon to defeat you."

He grunted as the Rattata jumped off and went to the other child's side. "Tch, fine. You win this round _Ashy-boy_. But when we become real trainers, I'll always be one step ahead of you!"

"We'll see about that." he grinned as he took out half of the sandwich he had left and offered a piece to his neighbor. "Yet...why do we have to be rivals all the time instead of being friends?"

Gary took it without hesitation and shoved it in his mouth. "Have you ever heard of rivals being friends?" he muttered while chewing.

"I don't think it's impossible." he replied. His face suddenly lit up. "Hey I have an idea! When we become trainers, we'll be both friends and rivals! That way we'll be doing something that nobody ever can do, together!"

"That doesn't sound half bad. Okay, let's do it then."

"But-but for now we're just friends alright?" he added quickly. "Yeah yeah, whatever. Just friends."

-o-

_To: Cilan_

_I never knew Unova was so far away. I asked Professor Oak about it on my way home after playing in the forest nearby our town where it was, and he said that it was so far that you had to cross oceans to get there. Is that true? I've never been on a ship before, but if that's what it takes to visit you then there's no problem!_

_You're not a trainer? That's surprising, I expected you to be one. Oh yeah, something you said in your last letter was bothering me, and I asked my friend about it. His name is Gary, and we've known each other ever since I was little. He's a kind of person that feels like he's higher than everyone else, but he's a good person, I know. Both of us are planning to become trainers after our next birthday. Cilan, can rivals truly be friends as well? Everyone seems to think that rivals can't be friends, but I find that weird. Me and Gary are going to be friends and rivals when we become trainers. Maybe you and I can also be friends and rivals when we meet each other too._

_Anyway, I was wondering why you didn't go on a journey when you had the chance to. Gary's parents aren't here and he said that he can go on a journey whenever he wants to. He said that the only reasons why someone wouldn't go on a Pokémon journey is either because something is holding you back or you're holding yourself back. Which are you Cilan? I was really looking forward to battling you, but I guess that would have to wait. I don't know much about Pokémon either and I probably have to learn a lot before I can challenge someone like you. But I won't give up alright? You said that I'll be a great trainer and I will!_

_Oh, I have to sleep soon. I'll just slip this letter in like before without mom noticing. I'm starting to write only in the evenings now. For some reason it's easier to concentrate that way._

_I hope you reply soon, and if you need any help just ask!_

_From, Ash_

The teen had been staring at the piece of paper for quite some time now; reading it over and over. With a sigh, he was about to place it on his desk when his door suddenly burst open to reveal one slightly worried Cress. The fact alone that he looked worried was rare and meant that something serious was going on. Quickly hiding Ash's letter in a sliding compartment under his desk, he stood up and faced his eldest brother with a frown. "What's the problem this time?"

"You can tell can't you?" the smirk disappeared almost instantly; he wasn't in the mood to joke around. "It's about uncle, Cilan. He...he...passed away a few minutes ago...from a heart attack."

* * *

><p><strong>AN : **...this is just the third chapter isn't it? What the heck is this plot mover doing here? D: Anyway, to satisfy some bits of your curiosity, the 'uncle' that Cress mentioned was their dad's friend that was also mentioned briefly in the last chapter. So Cress isn't just sad that a close friend of theirs is gone, but there's also the fact that no one can take care of them any more. In short, the three brothers are now on their own.

Sorry for the redundancy of words in some parts. Ash_ is_ still nine-years-old in here after all. Please review my fellow readers~


	4. 4th Exchange

_cafemochashipping. webs. com_

_This site is what inspired me to write this story, so I hope if you have time to take a look and join the forums!  
><em>

_To Akari-chan: _I totally agree with you about the handwriting styles of these two. That's exactly how I imagined it. XD And about the idea of Ash's letters having mistakes in them, I actually considered that before, but I thought it would look neater if I didn't add it. Now that you mention it, you gave me an idea for something a little later I can insert in the chapters. I hope you enjoy this chapter Akari-chan. ^ ^

And of course to everyone else, sorry for taking so long (ish). Warning, this chapter has a lot of dialogues (mostly from Ash and Gary.)

* * *

><p>Chapter 4 - Ideas<p>

Cilan had never attended a funeral before. Most often it was just their parents that went, or sometimes Cress would tag along. But it's different now...the fact that a close friend of theirs was gone sounded so unreal...he would think at times in the middle of the ceremony that he was dreaming. It was just a bad dream, but it wasn't. He couldn't drown out the stifled sobs inside the room and the distinct feeling of Chili clutching his sleeve right beside him. The youngest triplet was the closest to their 'uncle'; hearing about the news tore him apart. The middle brother knew that Chili was trying his best not to cry, but it was obvious that he was simply holding it back; he was gritting his teeth and there were small tears in his eyes. Cress could only give a look of sympathy and a frown (inside, he was also saddened for the loss, yet stayed strong for his siblings.)

For Cilan, the ceremony seemed to have last for hours before finally the crowd dispersed until his family was left. Their 'uncle' was the closest they thought of a father (and he was a kind one at that.) With their real parents gone-no, hiding somewhere and no other relative that's willing to help them, the triplets were all alone. No incoming food, electricity, water, or shelter...the next rent bill was coming up; how were they going to pay it?

"It looks like the time has come..." Cress muttered while folding his arms. The three of them stood in front of the place where he was buried moments ago; the gravestone will be placed later on in time. For now, it was just a rectangular piece of soil and dirt; the edges were easy to spot because what surrounded it were sharp grass and weeds.

"To start making our own money, right?" Cilan finished with a sigh. "But how are we going to do that? We're only thirteen and we can barely start a business on our own."

"We better think of something soon or else we'll end up starving to death. Or worse, sent to an orphanage and be separated." the other two nodded silently; the fear of being alone still apparent. They then walked away from the grave site, but all of them couldn't resist a final glance behind them. "Bye..." Chili muttered softly.

-o-

_To: Ash_

_I'm sorry that I kept you waiting; it has been a week since you sent your reply hasn't it? I'm afraid that_

"...should I really tell him?" Cilan mumbled aloud as he ruffled his hair and sighed. Just for tonight, the three brothers were sleeping together in one room (and Cilan's just happened to be the biggest.) He could hear Chili's snores and Cress's sleep talk from his desk; it was hard to concentrate. The teen just hoped that they wouldn't wake up and ask what he was doing (after all, sending a letter takes a small amount of money to do. And the eldest triplet had already warned them to not waste the savings they had left on useless things; no matter how small it is.)

He remembered the newest letter that was sitting in his compartment; not crumpled in the slightest. Maybe Ash could help him out somehow...even if he was young; children tend to come up with surprising ideas. The feeling of death still hung in the air; preventing him from thinking properly, so asking someone else who doesn't have a single clue to what's going on will be perfect.

With his mood lightening a little, he proceeded to write on his last piece of stationary in the pack he bought not long ago. If he were to buy another one, that would be another strike to their already small savings...at some point, he may have to write to his penpal with just ordinary paper. He wasn't a perfectionist, but he just felt that he needed to make his letters special in some way...(Ash's letters were already special because it was obvious they were handwritten by the boy himself. Most kids would ask their parents to write for them if they weren't shy or they would use the computer to print it out for them.) Cilan sighed as he shook his head a little to stop from so many thoughts from interrupting him. He needed to focus even if he was a little drowsy.

"But what am I supposed to say? That I need help..? In what?" he rubbed his eyes to let his vision clear a bit. "I'll just try to be as vague as possible...hopefully he wouldn't notice. Who knew coming up with a lie was so hard?"

_I'm afraid that I'm in need of some help with ideas. You see, my friend is planning to start a restaurant on his own but doesn't really know what to do. You think you could supply some things a basic restaurant would need? Or maybe something that can enhance it somehow. You're not really limited to anything, but at least make it realistic alright? No use trying to do the impossible._

_I would appreciate you replying as quickly as you can Ash._

_Sincerely, Cilan_

_PS. If you're actually going to try designing the whole restaurant, make sure it's in the shape of a two-story building._

The onyx-haired boy stared at the letter with a confused face. He never expected something like this to show up in his mailbox, and to come from Cilan no less. "It sounds so business-y. That means it must be serious." out of the blue Ash's face lit up; a big grin spread across his face. Not wasting any time, he ran back in to his house, grabbed anything he could write on and things he could use to write, and took off to his friend's house. Specifically a certain brunette.

"Gary!" he called while barging in. The other child was reading a book when he burst through the door; making him scream in shock when he heard the door banging on the wall. "Ash, you can't just go in to people's houses without knocking you idiot!"

"But this is an emergency!" at the sound of that, the brown-haired boy looked interested and placed his Pokémon book on the table beside him. "What _kind _of emergency?"

"It's from Cilan-"

"Your penpal?"

"Yeah, he needs some help with ideas for a restaurant. That's why I brought a ton of paper, pencils, erasers, and crayons." he then handed the letter to Gary who scanned the paper before returning it to his friend. "Hey Gary, what does realistic mean?"

"Uh, all I know is that it doesn't involve floating tables and chairs, robot waiters, tubes that deliver your food, slides, and a ball pit."

"_What_? But I was thinking of adding a ball pit! Why can't we have a ball pit?"

"Ash, I don't think the restaurant is supposed to be for kids only." the raven-haired boy grumbled in response. "I really wanted a ball pit."

And so the two kids started to scribble, erase, color, and argue about various things about the restaurant they were going to make. "First, we'll work on the inside of the restaurant." Ash exclaimed as he drew a counter (or what looks like a counter) on the top right side of the empty paper with a pencil. "If that's going to be the counter Ash, then the kitchen should be there too." Gary added while drawing rectangles behind the other drawing and made a simple stove, oven, utensils, and anything else that a kitchen would normally have. After that was done, they started on the tables and chairs. "What do you think the restaurant should look like Ash?"

"I dunno, something cool I guess. Space-themed?"

"No."

"Old-themed?"

"What's old-themed?"

"You know, the one with the knights and the swords and the dragons and the castles and the kings-"

"Ash, that's called the Middle Ages."

"Oh." there was a small pause in the room. "So can we go with that?"

"No."

"Cowboy-themed?"

"No."

"Pokémon-themed?"

"No."

"Right-now-themed?"

"What's that?"

"You know, right now."

"...Ash, there's a word for that. It's modern."

"Ooooh..." another pause. "So can we go with that?"

"I guess so. I think we need to keep it simple."

"Simple-themed?"

"Yeah."

"Okay!" they were about to start drawing again until they realized something important. "How many tables and chairs are we gonna draw?" Gary asked while glancing at his friend.

"I think four tables with four chairs each is good." the brunette nodded and doodled that in; adding an arrow and writing there 'Cover with tablecloth'. They then continued with adding some plants with pots in the two corners where the entrance was supposed to be. Along with settling with where the tables are supposed to be, Gary decided to put a small vase on each table to make it not look so empty. "There."

"You draw flowers funny Gary."

"They're still flowers." he replied with a huff. "Anyway, now we need to make the menu for the restaurant. I think we'll leave the prices up to your friend." he took out another piece of paper lying on the floor and a blue crayon. The brunette then wrote on the top of the paper 'Beverages'.

"Can we have milkshakes?" he asked.

"Okay, what flavors do you want?"

"Chocolate, Vanilla, Mocha, Cookies and Cream, Mango, Strawberry-"

"Hey wait, Mango isn't a milkshake."

"Oh, so it's just a shake?"

"Yeah."

"...Mango, Strawberry, Apple, Orange, Watermelon-"

"No berry shakes?"

"Yuck, I hate those."

"Fine, that's not in the list." he quickly wrote down the other flavors that Ash mentioned on the paper and tried to make it as neat as possible. "So what else is there to drink?"

"Tea!"

"Iced Tea or Green Tea?"

"Both! And lemonade and water and soft drinks-"

"And lemon water."

"I already said lemonade."

"But lemon water's different."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Grandpa says it's healthy."

"How?"

"I remember it had something to do with the acids in the body or something. He said we need to drink at least one glass a day so that our bodies won't be too acid-y and stuff."

"You think Cilan would know about lemon water?" instead of answering, Gary just wrote down his short explanation on the paper beside the words 'lemon water'. "There, at least he'll know what it is now."

"Okay, we're done with drinks, let's go to desserts! I call chocolate cake!"

-o-

"Hey Cilan, what are you looking at? And what's with all the papers?" Chili asked as he entered his room. The youngest triplet did not expect to find his brother surrounded by pieces of paper scattered on the floor. Most of the papers had doodles on them with what looked like buildings and...what's inside of buildings. "They're...ideas. Sent from a friend of mine." he replied while studying what looks like a child's version of a menu written in blue and red crayon.

"So...what's that on the floor?" the both of them turned their attention to a small box that sat there; it looked like a cooler. "Apparently, they're mangoes."

"What's that?"

"Fruits native to the Kanto region."

"So your friend is from Kanto?"

"Yeah."

Chili picked up one of the papers on the ground and nearly laughed at the childish drawing. "It's like these plans were made by nine-year-olds."

_They _are_ nine-year-olds_ Cilan thought but didn't bother saying it. "Chili, what do think about starting a restaurant, together? As in maybe one of us could cook and the other two beings waiters."

"...you're the cook alright? You know me and Cress can't handle stuff like that." he said with a smile; something that Cilan hasn't seen for the past few days.

The teen smiled as well. "Then it's settled. Call Cress here; we have a lot to discuss."

* * *

><p><strong>AN :** Apparently when Cilan tries to be vague, he comes out all business-y like. For some reason I have a bad feeling that this chapter is more of a PalletShipping one that CafeMocha. O_O D-don't worry guys, I'll get back to Cilan/Ash soon enough...

I would like to thank my little sister Gabby who helped me out tremendously with Ash and Gary's dialogue parts. Of course, I typed everything, but she said some of the parts herself. Like the 'Right-now-themed'. XD (She's nine-almost-turning-ten as well; which makes my work a little easier for inspiration.) The chapters seem to be getting longer and longer for some reason...

Anyway, review people!


	5. 5th Exchange

_cafemochashipping. webs. com_

_This site is what inspired me to write this story, so I hope if you have time to take a look and join the forums!_

_To Surprised_: Now that you mention it, I can't imagine 9-year-old Ash at all nearby the ten-year-old one they made in the anime. I'm glad that I made him nine now; I'm always thinking that he's the same Ash as the one they showed in that Entei movie flashback. XD

To everyone else: Thanks for reviewing! Because of you, my little sister likes to participate in my story discussions now and bugs me to update this. Sorry I took a while with this chapter. It's not as good as the previous one but I hope it's okay for you.

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><p>Chapter 5 - Questions<p>

"So, where do we start?" Cress asked as he glanced at his brothers.

"These mangoes are awesome!" Chili replied while eating another spoonful. He then frowned when he realized that the slice he was eating had no more parts that were edible. "Hey Cilan, can you cut another one?"

"_No_." he muttered bluntly while eating his own piece with a metal spoon. "You already ate three ends and one middle piece. That's enough for one week."

"A day would've been suffice." the red head grumbled.

"Besides, we only have two more mangoes left from your friend." the eldest added while biting on what was left of the middle part of the fruit. Cress wasn't the type to get his hands dirty especially with food, but there was no other choice; this was the best and only way to eat the sweet parts surrounding the seed of the fruit. Occasionally though he would grimace a little from its sourness (somehow Chili was able to grab all the sweet ones). "Who sent this to us anyway? Someone we should know Cilan?"

Two pairs of eyes were now staring at the middle triplet now; it made Cilan uneasy. "Uh-uhm..."

"_Well_?" they both said in unison yet sounded different; Cress said it in a questioning tone while Chili said it in an excited one.

"I was...uhm, talking to my..."

"Girlfriend?"

"Chili! Would you stop pestering me about that already?"

The youngest brother made a frown. "_Fine_..."

"So if it's not your girlfriend, who is it?" the blue-haired teen pressed on.

"Uuh...my-our cousin." there was a long silence that followed afterward. "We have a _cousin_ in _Kanto_?" they both asked (again in unison).

"Yeah..."

"So what's she like? Is she cute? Young? Talented? Does she work in a mango orchard?"

_He's not even a girl...and what's with the mango orchard?_ Cilan thought while pursing his lips a little. He would have to lie. _Again_. To his _brothers_. The teen never thought he would be caught in a situation such as this. "Uhm...no, she doesn't work in a mango orchard..." _I'll just have to go along with this for now..._"But, yeah, she's young...I think she's nine-years-old or something..."

"Heh, I'm surprised that you knew and was talking to her, no less." Cress muttered. "That means you can call her now through video-phone, is that correct?"

_Oh shoot._ "Uuuh...we-we can't. Because...it's nighttime! Yeah, she would be sleeping at the moment so we can't call her."

"Kanto is in a different timezone than us?" they questioned together (for the third time). Cilan nodded meekly. "Uhm, yeah. So we can't call her."

"We'll just call her later then!" Chili piped up while pumping his fist up in the air excitedly.

"No! We can't!" he suddenly shouted. The two stared at him strangely. "Why do you insist on hiding her from us?" the eldest triplet asked.

"Because...because she's shy. Yeah. If we call her, she'll freak out and probably never talk to me again." he tried to think of something that would really convince at least one of them. "Uhm, and if we do that, we won't get any more mangoes."

"What? No! I want more mangoes!" the youngest shouted. "If that's the case, then we won't bother you Cilan." suddenly he went closer to him and narrowed his eyes. "I won't get in between you and your _girlfriend_."

"I told you already she's not my girlfriend!"

"Whatever you say~" Chili beamed as he got the plates on the table and went to the kitchen. Now the only two left in the room were Cilan and Cress. The middle brother sighed deeply. "Man...glad that's over..."

"Must be hard to lie to a guy like that huh?"

"...you saw through it?"

"It was pretty obvious you were in a tight situation there Cilan." Cress grinned. "So, who were you talking to? Really?" and so the next couple minutes were filled with explanations and truths. For some reason Chili seemed to be taking his time in the kitchen so he didn't hear what the two were discussing about. "And that's how I got Ash to be my penpal."

"Alright, I get it." the eldest smiled. "Don't worry; I won't let Chili know about this. We should keep him in a nice fantasy while you can. Oh, and ask your little friend if he could send mangoes every once in a while."

"Speaking of which, what is taking Chili so long?" they both stood up from their chairs and headed towards the other room; the smell of mangoes quickly hit them once they entered. "Chili!" inside, the red head was sipping on another mango...or what seemed like the last mango they had. "I told you not to eat the rest of them!"

"But they're so good!" all the other two could do was sigh and hide their smiles as the youngest continued to feast on the remaining piece left he cut for himself. At least he isn't sad anymore.

-o-

_To: Ash_

_Thank you so much for all the ideas and the mangoes that you've sent me. My friend greatly enjoyed them and he's planning on starting the restaurant soon; we just need the supplies. If it isn't too much trouble, can you send me more mangoes? One of his relatives recently died and it's been a while since I last saw him smile like that. You don't happen to work in a mango orchard do you Ash?_

_Anyhow, I really appreciate you helping us out. You have no idea how grateful I am to you. Say thanks to your friend as well; he has been a great help designing the plans you've sent me. Hopefully he'll be able to make the restaurant a success._

_As a token of gratitude, here's something that I bought for you. I hope you enjoy it._

_Sincerely, Cilan_

_PS. The Pokémon is called an Oshawott that is native to the Unova region. A water type; it is one of the Pokémon you can choose as your starter. I remember in Kanto the Pokémon you can choose is a Squirtle, correct?_

"Aww! It's so cute!" the boy said as he hugged the stuff toy tightly. It was really soft and squishy; anything you would expect from a perfect huggable item shaped like an Oshawott. Inside the small box was also a bottle shaped like the other toy. Holding the plushie with his right arm, he picked the container up and turned the head a little; opening it. "Oh cool!" the head came off easily and under it was a bubble wand. The bottle was filled with bubble juice. Excitedly he dipped it in, positioned it upward and blew. Sphere-shaped bubbles floated around him and flew out of the open window in his room. "Wow..." the bubbles seem to be reflecting the sunlight outside; making little rainbows wherever it went. It was amazing...in all honesty, Ash had never seen bubbles this up close before.

Out of the blue, one of the bubbles popped as soon as went past the glass pane. "Hey Ash, don't tell me you have a Pokémon in there?" Gary shouted as he put the front part of his body in his room. "Hey, where'd you get that?"

"From Cilan. And you could've just passed through the door y'know."

"Eh, whatever." the brunette climbed on and landed on the floor in front of Ash. "Oh, Gary, you think we can get more mangoes for Cilan?"

"Huh? Why?"

"'Cuz his friend likes it."

"No way, can't he just buy his own? And remember how long it took us to get those other mangoes in the first place?"

-Flashback-

_"Woah...I never realized how huge gramp's backyard was."_

_"No kidding. So are you sure there are a couple of mango trees somewhere around here?"_

_"Think so. We just have to be careful of the Pokémon and stuff." the two kids then started on their search for at least one mango tree. The place was huge; filled with pathways, forests, lakes, and mountains. The forest that Ash normally played in could actually be a part of this area. "Hey, I think there are some mangoes over there!" Gary pointed at one of the taller trees nearby them. "Okay, I'll climb it and get the fruit!" Ash shouted as he ran towards the tree; grabbing the trunk and started to climb as fast as he could. Soon he found a large branch that was big enough to stand on, but for some reason a pokémon beat him to it. "Rai?"_

_"Huh?" the electric mouse didn't look pleased that someone stumbled upon its resting place. Sparks began to come out of its yellow cheeks and a second after it just exploded. "Raiiiichu!"_

_"...well, that didn't work." the brunette muttered as a charred Ash followed tiredly behind him. "And what's worse, the mangoes there weren't real mangoes. They were _apple-mangoes_. I mean really? Why did Professor Oak plant mangoes _and _apple-mangoes here?" the black-haired boy whined._

_"How should I know? Gramps can be weird sometimes...hey; I think there are some mangoes over there!"_

_"I hope this time they really are mangoes..." but before they could even approach the tree, a bunch of Beedrills came out and glared at them. One of them pointed at the two kids with its white stingers; as if commanding the others to attack. They obeyed almost instantly and charged with their eyes set on their next prey. "Run for it!" before they could even do that though, a group of pokémon jumped in front of them with their tails up high and ready to counter. "Rattata!" Ash was surprised; maybe his little theory about the forest being connected here was correct. _

_The one in the front began to glow white as if concentrating its energy, then it lunged towards one of the bug/poison type pokémon and tackled it; hard. "That was Quick Attack..." Gary muttered as the other normal types charged in with the same move as well. The Beedrill tried to counter, but were bit before they could do anything. Realizing that there was no point in staying, all of the Beedrill fled deeper in to the group of trees; soon out of sight. "Phew, that was close."_

_"Thanks Rattata! You really helped us out there." the pokémon cried back at the raven-haired boy; happy with his gratitude. Out of the blue, they all climbed up the tree that bore mangoes on it and let them fall one by one; the other Rattatas at the bottom catching them and piling them up nearby Ash and Gary. "Awesome. Now we have enough to give for Cilan and have some to eat for later!"_

_"Here, you should take some as well since you're the one who got them." the brunette told them as he gave some of the yellow fruit to the mouse pokémon. They cried back in thanks before disappearing in to the bushes. "Okay, let's bring this back shall we?"_

-End Flashback-

"But the Rattata were able to save us back then right?"

"Still! What if they didn't show up? It's too dangerous to go there again without other Pokémon to protect us or something."

"You saying you're a scaredy cat Gary?"

"What? Of course not! You're just being reckless again Ash!" suddenly, the raven-haired boy began to make chicken-like motions and added some chicken sounds along with it. The brunette clenched his fists; his knuckles turning a little white. "Oh fine! We're going! Just to prove it to you that I'm not chicken!"

_And the chicken imitation works again!_ Ash thought while smirking mentally before they went outside and headed towards Professor Oak's lab.

* * *

><p><strong>AN : **I've never mentioned mangoes so much in my life. My little sister Gabby also loves mangoes so she had fun suggesting what would the triplets say above. Also, the reason why Rattata was the one that saved them is because I'm doing the Nuzlocke Challenge right now in HG and just recently lost my first pokemon, Zan the LV9 Rattata. DX This is kinda in memory of him. I hope I didn't disappoint you with this chapter!

Pleaase review~


	6. 6th Exchange

**A/N: **Sorry for taking so terribly long! I kept convincing myself that I had a lot of time left before the two month deadline and I didn't notice that I only had ten days left. DX And yeah, this one is quite short as I've hit a little rut wondering how to proceed with this. So think of this chapter as maybe a filler if you want. Remember I mentioned a little idea that I wanted to use later on? Well...

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><p>Chapter 6 - While Writing...<p>

"Aah, where is it?" the young onyx-haired boy shouted to no one in particular as he attempted to search his entire room upside down for something he _really really_ needed. His blankets were scattered partially on the bed and on the blue carpet, all of his drawers were wide open with various trinkets taken out on the desk, his cabinet looked like it had been raided by wild pokémon, and basically his entire room seemed to be hit by a Twister attack. The only thing that was untouched was a paper that was placed neatly on his table surrounded by other papers, pencils, crayons, and pens. The letter was only finished half way, with a half written word putting the sentence in to an abrupt halt.

"Of all the times that mom had to go shopping is when I lose...uh, what is it called?" he didn't waste time pondering and instead continued to search. If it wasn't in his room, it had to be somewhere in the house again, right? Keeping that in mind, Ash quickly went out of his messy room and proceeded to search in other places where his lost item could be. He ran in to his mom's room and pulled out all the bed sheets, but it wasn't there. He scanned the bookshelf where there were some books that were too high for him to reach; despite his curiosity, none of them looked like the book he was looking for. He tried to open his mom's own desk in the room, but it was locked with a key, so that wasn't an option.

Sighing, he decided to go downstairs and look around the living room (specifically the couches). But after a couple of minutes, all he found was a bunch of dust, some coins, a battery, and a piece of paper that had someone's telephone number on it. He moved on in to the kitchen but avoided all the pointy things like the row of knives that hung silently on the tiled wall; but again, it wasn't there. He found a nice looking cook book; though that was pretty useless to him.

And then Gary decided that now was a nice time to drop by. "Hey, Ash." he said while just going through the front door.

"You could've knocked."

"Call it payback." the brunette replied with a smirk. "You looking for something?"

"Yeah...I lost...uhm, well; I know it's a book that has a lot of words in it."

"A storybook?"

"No...it's a really thick book that tells you many words and its meaning."

"Oh, you mean a dictionary." Ash's expression immediately showed _'Oh, so that's what it's called'_. "Yeah, can you help me look for it?" out of the blue, the child showed an even bigger smirk. "Instead of relying on some stupid thick book, tell me what the word is and I'll spell it out for you."

"Eh, fine, but I don't think you'll know how to spell it right."

"Just tell me the word."

"..._decision_."

"Decision? That's easy. It's _d-e-s-e-t-i-o-n_." he said confidently.

"Huh? I'm pretty sure there's no _'t'_ in decision." the ravenette commented right after he was done.

"You asked for the correct spelling and that's what I gave you. _D-e-s-c...e-t-i-o-n_!"

"...never mind. I'm gonna look for the dictionary."

"You really think I'm wrong, Ash?" he shouted; annoyed.

"'Course. You spell decision as _d-e...s-i-s-c-i-o-n_."

"No, that's one _'s'_ too many!"

"I bet my spelling is closer than yours, Gary."

"Let's just ask Gramps and prove me right."

"As if! He's gonna prove me right!"

"No, me!"

"Me!"

"_Me_!"

"_Me_!" and the exchanges continued even after they went through the door and walked all the way to Professor Oak's lab. With each step they took their voices got louder and louder; trying to win over the other in some kind of shouting contest. All the neighbors noticed them pass by and couldn't help but chuckle; those two were always either fighting or goofing off; just how two hot-blooded and stubborn best friends would act.

-o-

It was another windy morning in Unova; the crisp autumn breeze was the first thing Cilan felt as he stepped out of the building. The reason why he stepped out of course was to check the mailbox to see if Ash's letter had arrived. It had been around two weeks since the brothers decided to start on a restaurant, and so far it's been going smoothly. Thankfully their father's friend left with him the last of his money which was enough for a few redecorations, a few cookbooks and some dozens of ingredients. Using whatever they had left in the house, the brothers tried to be as creative as possible with decorating the place (while keeping it simple). They were planning on opening somewhere along the week; but Cilan wanted to make sure he could make a couple of good dishes before they start. Simply put, he was nervous.

The teen couldn't help but smile when he saw the letter in the small box and took it out. But when he opened the envelope, a strong gust of wind blew by, sending the paper inside it up in to the air. "Ah..! The letter!" he broke in to a run as the paper gently floated in the air above; showing no signs of stopping any time soon. He followed it all the way to the Dream Yard where his footsteps on the pavement made loud echoes around the ruins that were once a large facility. Cilan didn't notice or care about waking up the wild pokémon in the area; he was focused on getting that letter back; he was not about to lose something he held quite dearly.

Luckily the breeze stopped blowing a little while after; letting the paper rest on one of the higher floors of the broken building. Sighing, the teen started to climb on whatever was left of the stairway and easily reached the top of the structure (which was nothing more than a gray tiled floor with no roof and some corner pillars). "Please don't fly away..." he mumbled repeatedly as he went closer and closer to the letter. And...

"Got it." he muttered happily. He only realized now how far he was from the city...the Dream Yard was a walking distance, sure, but from where he was it seemed like he was surrounded by a red forest; the sign of autumn was very much apparent. Picking up one of the maple leaves that landed beside him; he couldn't help but twirl it a little and let it waft in the breeze once more; the leaf danced elegantly in the wind.

"Munna?" Cilan nearly jumped when he heard the small cry; he didn't expect for something else to be there. When he turned around, he saw a small pink creature with four tiny legs and a purple flower pattern on its side floating nearby the stairs that he used to climb up there. It looked curious as to why Cilan was here in the first place especially so early in the morning. Said teen smiled back; showing it that he meant no harm. The little Munna seemed to have gotten the message yet it still had a cautious air around it.

"Don't worry, I was just about to leave." he told it. Cilan then started to walk towards the psychic pokemon calmly; heading to the stairs that lead down to the dirt ground. The Munna shrunk back as if it expected the teen to attack it; but with a smile he continued his way down until he was at the bottom again with Ash's letter at hand. "Goodbye then." he said before he walked away silently. As he did, he read the letter and couldn't help but laugh for it wasn't the contents that made him feel much better...

It was one word that was crossed out numerous times with each time having a different handwriting. He found it cute and hilarious that Ash and his friend were fighting over how to spell _'decision'_.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **How I got the word 'decision': I asked my classmate (solitarycloud) on what would be a hard word for a nine-year-old to spell.

How I misspelled 'decision': I asked my little sister and how Gary spelled it was her first guess. XDD

Please review?


	7. 7th Exchange

**A/N: **First, sorry for taking so long (curse ya school). Second, I has cough (explaining this chapter) and lastly, I thank ya for all the reviews that you've been giving me. ^_^ Once or twice, people have been asking me about how long am I going to linger in Ash's childhood. I couldn't help but chuckle at them, really. And I'll say why. I'll give you this really tiny spoiler on my plan for this story:

**This story _is_ going to end with Ash's journey, but it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to explore it.**

Not much, but in later time it'll make sense. :3 Oh, and also, I want you guys to humor me for the heck of it. Question: **How many chapters am I going to write for this fic? **Whether review or PM, just guess a number. And no in between; it needs to be exact or else I won't accept it as an answer. If I can have 3 people guess it correctly before October 17, then I'll write an extra one-shot on Halloween for this story. If not, well, there won't be one. Simple? Yeah. Okay, I've stalled you enough. Don't forget to review!

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><p>Chapter 7 - Coughcoughcough<p>

_To: Cilan_

_How's your friend's restaurant going? I guess I'm just interested because I have no idea where the mangoes that I send you go. Did you make mango shakes out of them?_

_Anyway, I have cough and colds right now. Really annoying. Trying my best to not sneeze on the paper_

The child quickly slashed the last sentence while blushing a little from embarrassment. "What am I thinking? Writing that down sounds so...stupid." he muttered as he continued to cross it out until it was unreadable. At least, he hoped that it was. It was still painfully obvious that something was there though.

_It's been a whole week since I got them and they're not even getting any better. I'm lucky it's just that though, because it would be really bad if I got a fever too. My mom's been feeding me a lot of berries to get me to stop coughing, but it isn't really working. And I don't really like berries because she gives me a lot of sour or bitter ones...bleh. I miss Pecha berries now, but I don't see them anymore because they don't grow here that very much. Mostly it's just those sour or bitter medicine berries._

_Anyway, I shouldn't be complaining about berries when I'm writing to you. How's your day? Is everything fine there in Unova? There's not much going on now, but autumn's here. I don't think we can keep on giving you mangoes (as much as Gary likes holding money). Sorry, but when it comes back in season, I'll send you more, okay?_

The last question mark was crooked because as he wrote it he coughed, making a weird line on the paper to the end. The ravenette couldn't help but stare at it with a frown and then sighed since he couldn't do a thing about it. Deciding the letter was fine; he folded it up and got one of the neat envelopes on his desk nearby him. "Better give this to mom then..."

-o-

"Cress, seriously, I'm _fine_. It's just a cough." the teen insisted as he tried to sit up from his bed. The older brother didn't listen though and pushed him back down; showing a thermometer he used a while ago right at his face, giving it more emphasis. "Tell me what it says."

He hesitated. "...Thirty-nine."

"Exactly. You have cough and a fever. Not just one of those. Now you need to stay in bed or else this is going to get worse. Having one less hand around the restaurant is going to put us in a bad situation, Cilan." the younger teen groaned, which should've come out as a grunt in defiance. Sometimes he thought that Cress was starting to get too involved in the restaurant idea and could only think of nothing but that. Whenever something pressing comes up, like Chili accidentally breaking a glass cup and cutting himself, instead of coaxing him, he just told him to get a bandage on it and cleaned up the mess himself. He was starting to grow distant, and he didn't like it. He wasn't the same as he was; as if all those times he offered comfort became some kind of excuse to get them to work harder.

Choosing not to fight back, the middle triplet stayed in bed and closed his eyes. He could feel the warmth from his body radiate around him, but at the same time he felt a little cold. The seasons were changing now...autumn was coming. He assumed that it was coming in Kanto, too.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and Cress finally broke his gaze on his brother and turned his attention to it. With a sigh, he stood up from the wooden stool that was beside the bed and opened the door, revealing the worried youngest brother holding an envelope. "Is Cilan alright, Cress?"

"Chili, if you keep interrupting us, then he won't get better." he replied. The eldest noticed the letter in his hand and quickly snatched it away from him, making the redhead shout in protest. "Hey, I wanna see! It's from Cilan's girlfriend with the mangoes, right? There were no mangoes with the letter though..."

All the while the bluenette stayed silent; gazing at nothing but the floor, possibly. Without his expression changing, he told the youngest triplet to get out of the room and that he'll follow him. When he asked why, he simply answered that it was for Cilan, and somehow Chili reluctantly agreed. No more words come out of their mouths as they leave the sick teen alone with his letter.

Still wondering what they were up to, he decided to read what Ash wrote for him since he was given a chance to. As he took in every word, his weak smile got bigger and bigger. "What a coincidence. At least he's not ill, unlike me." folding the paper as neatly as he could, he slipped it back in the paper container and placed it on the tiny desk beside him. Lying down again, he started to think of what to reply, but then he knew that he was too weak to write anything, and so he would need to ask one of his brothers to write for him. And Chili was definitely out.

Later when Cress came back with some food and water, Cilan asked him what he had planned after reading the child's letter. He wasn't surprised; he simply nodded, went off to get a piece of paper and pen, and went back to his brother ready to begin. So the two spent the night beside the small lamp which was their only light. Cilan dictated the words and Cress just wrote them down. They didn't say anymore that was unnecessary, and that made the middle triplet a bit uncomfortable. "Cress..."

"Did I do something wrong?" he replied; looking straight at him. The gaze made Cilan cringe; it looked so different than what he was used to seeing. "It's not that, it's just...you've been...distant...lately..."

"_Distant_? What are you talking about? Am I not always here with you two in these past few weeks?"

"You _have_ been distant with us, Cress. Not physically, but...you know what I'm talking about." they were both quiet once again. The eldest was still holding the pen tightly as it hovered over the paper beside the last sentence. "You know, Cress...I haven't seen you smile ever since that day when we first got those mangoes from Ash. You've been so concentrated on the business that it's bothering me. Chili noticed it too. He should've, especially right after you scolded him on breaking that glass cup."

"...he's been avoiding me."

"I would've too, if my big brother suddenly started acting so harshly." Cilan immediately wanted to take back those words when he saw him grit his teeth in regret. "Maybe I was too harsh on him."

"He told me you were acting like a grown up, you know? Said that he didn't want for you to be like that until you got older, but...look at us now." the sick teen forced a laugh. "We're only thirteen and we're starting our own business. Trying to survive in the world of grownups when we're supposed to do that later. _We only get one childhood...so we better cherish it._ That's what uncle used to say, remember?"

"Said that it was the most important thing we had to remember, besides us having each other."

"And that we had to enjoy life while we could, even if we are in a world of grownups." the two of them fell silent once more, but this time the tension has faded. They both had a small smile on their face. "Ash is lucky. He has a dream of becoming a Pokémon Master, just like any other kid should be dreaming."

"Not like us where we have to earn our own money to survive. But I guess running a restaurant can be fun as long as we keep the place nice and happy. Besides, if our customers figure out that we're fighting, it'll get them tense too."

"'Specially the girls. They'll try to but in." they both laugh lightly, yet Cilan ended his with a fit of coughs. "We should finish the letter before it gets too late. Where did I end again?"

"You were about to answer his question about your day."

"...well I guess we can both fill that in, can't we?"

"Of course."

-o—

"...so Cilan's sick too?" Gary asked.

"Yep. Looks like everyone's getting sick now." Ash replied.

"It's 'cuz of the change in seasons, I bet."

"You're just saying that because you don't want to admit you fell in to a cold like me."

"Well it's the same for you too, Ashy-boy." before they could say any more, the both of them start coughing; causing them both to fall back to the carpeted floor right after they were done. Sniffling, they both sighed. "I hate being sick."


	8. 8th Exchange

Chapter 8 - Gift

_To: Ash_

_Is it snowing there now? How time flies. I swear it was autumn yesterday, and now the streets are covered with blankets of white. Kids around your age are playing outside by my window, but I can't join them, I'm sadly quite busy this Christmas._

_Speaking of which, I sent you an early present in case I forget about it later on. It's still wrapped up, so no opening it until December 25, alright? I'll be counting on you to live up to that, Ash. I can imagine that you're trying not to tear the wrapper off already._

At that very moment, the ravenette froze in place; guilt washing all over him. He didn't just tear it off, but he already checked what was inside. It was a stuff toy of what looked like a grass type that only came from the Unova region. It reminded the kid of a smug snake-like creature. If ever he was to visit Cilan, he would really like to see one of those. And maybe catch one so that he can show all his friends when he got home.

Still, he broke the one-sided promise that his penpal made. Despite it being one-sided, it counted a lot for Ash, and he didn't like the fact that he betrayed the trust of his friend. Not one little bit, even if there was no way the teen could've known.

_Anyway, I can't write much, unfortunately. I mentioned that I'm busy, right? It's really eating up my time. Hopefully when the holidays roll by I can take a break from it and just play in the snow like last year. I don't want to waste my childhood worrying._

_I didn't mean to end this letter with a sort of sad note. I wish to hear from you soon._

_Sincerely, Cilan_

"Oh man, I really screwed up..." he mumbled as he placed the letter down and stared at the plushie he was given. Hesitantly, he grabbed it from its body and hugged it tight. After letting go, he placed it back in the box he took it out from. The stuff toy's eyes seem to be glaring right at his as if waiting for him to say something. He didn't, and with the cover at hand, Ash closed the container with little noise.

He got over the fact that he opened Cilan's present too early, now he was concentrating on what to give his penpal.

-o-

Asking for his mom to help him out did not do much.

Some time had passed since he read the letter that Cilan sent to him. It was now early afternoon; the child had the rest of the day to figure out what his Christmas present will be. He promised himself that he wouldn't write a reply to him until he found something good. And of course, the first person he asked for an idea was the person closest to him: his mother. Unfortunately for the boy, when he asked her, she simply gave a smile and told him that the best gift he could give the teen was something he made himself.

Now how the heck was he supposed to make an awesome gift like the pokémon stuff toy if he can't even sew? Or draw, for that matter. Well, he could try drawing, but he was never confident with that skill. With his arms on the desk, he slumped on his chair and played with his pencil with his teeth. Accidentally, it slipped, flew a few inches up in the air, and landed on the paper in front of him, making a crooked line on the clean sheet. The ravenette couldn't do anything but stare at it with a frown as he felt around for his eraser. He soon found it, he was about to erase the mark when a sudden idea came to his mind. Picking up the pencil, he started to draw more lines around the original one, turning it in to the plushie that Cilan had given him. It wasn't that very good, but in his eyes, it was good enough. At least he could tell that it was the grass pokemon. With a satisfied grin, he sat up, grabbed the Oshawott stuff toy (he only realized that these two could've been the two starters of Unova) and placed it in front of him. "I wonder what the fire one looks like?" he mumbled as he attempted to copy the water type on the paper.

It wasn't before long till he finished. Contented, he pulled out a drawer that contained a lot of broken crayons and picked the ones that matched the colors of the creatures. As carefully as he could, he colored them both, trying not to go past the lines. He was about to finish the body of Oshawott when a loud noise startled him and made the boy drop the crayon.

The sound was a door being smacked to the wall. _Hard_.

"Oh, so you were here the entire time. Why aren't you outside, _Ashy-boy_? It's boring to play by myself." Gary said as he walked in to the room. "...what's with the evil glare?"

"For letting me go past the line."

"What line?" the spiky-haired brunette went to his friend and leaned closer to see what he was doing. "Oh. For Cilan?"

The silent stare that Ash gave was his answer. "_Yeesh_, you're just overreacting. I don't think he'll mind one crooked line that stretches all the way..." his voice trailed off for a moment. "Okay, it's bad. Sorry."

"Now you owe me."

"Yeah, whatever."

"And you can repay me right now."

"With what..?"

"Can you find me a picture of the fire starter type of Unova?"

"A picture? Unova? I don't think even my grandpa knows about the Pokémon there."

"But you owe me."

"...oh fine. But you're coming with me. I'll help you with your card when we get back."

"Eh? But-"

"No buts. Do you want that picture or not?"

-o-

Ash wasn't that very sure anymore if he really, _really_ wanted that picture because sneaking in to a place you were not supposed to go in to sounded...risky.

Still, Gary insisted that the archives were their best shot in finding something about the starters of Unova, so off they went to Professor Oak's lab and in to the library. "Are you sure we're going to find something here?"

"Sure I'm sure. I'm his grandson, so I should know!"

With a flick of a switch, a dim light illuminated the room a little more than what the sunlight could offer. The two boys immediately saw the various bookshelves that were lined up here. "I was hoping that he wouldn't have that many books." the ravenette muttered. "Well," Gary responded. "we better start looking then."

And so the both of them began to search every inch of the tons of books stuffed in the shelves and skimmed their pages. There was one thing that Ash noticed: most of the information in here surely didn't cover just Kanto. He saw sceneries of Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh...different pokémon that he had never seen before...even legendaries that he could only dream of meeting. Yet strangely enough, the child didn't find a single thing on Unova. It got him thinking; maybe the professor had never been to Unova in the first place.

That was until his friend shouted about finding something and to get there right now. Ash followed the voice to a nearby corner and found Gary kneeling while staring at a page. "What did you find?"

"_This_." he showed Ash the picture that he was looking at, and indeed, it was something to gawk about.

It was a sketch of two small pokémon leaning on each other, sleeping. The both of them recognize the other pokémon as a Pikachu, but the other..."I wonder what kind of pokémon is that." the black-haired boy mused aloud.

"Forget about that, I never knew gramps could _draw_! It looks pretty old though. He did say he was a trainer before, so maybe he drew this while he was traveling."

"I guess so, but I really thought you found something about the starter pokémon."

"Anything I learn about gramps is something important because, y'know, it might become important later on."

"...let's just keep looking for it."

-o-

_To: Cilan_

_First of all, I'm REALLY REALLY SORRY for opening the present early. I got excited, and I hope that we're still friends._

_Because I opened your present, I drew something for you (I helped too! -Gary) It's a drawing of Oshawott, the grass pokemon thing, and a Charmander. I couldn't find anything about the fire starter of Unova, so we decided to settle on using Charmander instead. I'm not good at drawing (also Gary) so if it's bad, I'm sorry._

_Anyway, it's not snowing here yet, but I think it's gonna come soon. The snow usually comes on December here in Kanto. It's almost Christmas~_

_From, Ash_

_PS I will send you more mangoes when the season comes again. I like the money. -Gary_

The teen couldn't help but laugh at the words written in red and blue crayon. It seemed to be a practice for the two boys now to write in said colors. Cilan smiled at the 'present' he was given, and the Christmas tree that was doodled on the letter as well. Really, the innocence of a child was just so precious that he wondered where his own had gone off to.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **You can tell I was lazy because of the time skip. :3

ANYWAY, I'm terribly sorry for taking so long with this. I got writer's block. Yeah. The only reason why I was able to finish it today was because it was the deadline. 'Nuff said. Sooo...yeah.

Review, please?


	9. 9th Exchange

Chapter 9 - Thoughts

_Four more months till my tenth birthday..._

Christmas had passed, and Ash was happy with all the presents he had received. Some were toys, others were books (they contained tips on being a trainer and pokémon info), and a whole bunch of things that he couldn't keep track off. Either way, his mom had already placed most of these gifts in the proper shelves and drawers, so he was sort of back to a regular old day...

Other than his anxiousness coming in whenever it would be the exact day of his birthday...well, day, but not month. Still, it was getting closer and closer...the day that he will become a trainer. The thought was exciting and heart pounding; he honestly couldn't wait..! Well, he would get homesick, sure, yet the adventure...meeting all kinds of pokémon and people...so much to look forward to...

He wondered if he would keep writing to Cilan even while he was traveling.

Or what starter he would choose.

It came to him that he hadn't even made his decision yet. A choice that would determine how quickly he can climb the ladder, or, well, he knew that every pokémon had their strengths and weaknesses, but picking between fire, grass, and water...Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle...

The boy sighed. Why can't he just get all three of them? That way he can train all of them, try out their different styles and moves, and most importantly befriend them all. He wanted to be the greatest Pokémon Master, yes...new friends would be nice too. He had never been out of Pallet Town, and he knew everybody here...

Ash was honestly getting a little tired of Gary's arrogance.

"Uuuh..." the onyx-haired boy groaned loudly as he stretched his arms followed by a long yawn. Blinking his eyes a few times, he looked around and remembered that he took a short nap in the forest nearby his hometown. It didn't really feel like a nap though, thoughts and worrying questions were still swirling around his head like a crazy storm. It made his head hurt; the worst kind of sleep he could ask for.

Ash rubbed his eyes, attempting to clear his vision. He could hear the sounds of the forest echoing around him. Occasionally he can hear distinctive pokémon cries, but he couldn't really tell what kind of pokémon they were. Either way, it wasn't really safe to fall asleep here, it would be best if he went back home. The boy wanted to rest again...to sleep once more and not include some super deep questions this time.

"Oddish?"

"Heh?" he turned to the left and saw a small grass type pokémon standing beside him, looking a little confused and curious. "Oh, it's an Oddish."

"Odd-odd." the little weed ran off to the opposite direction and jumped in to a bush, leaving the boy alone. "H-hey..." his reaction was a tad too late and the footsteps of the pokémon couldn't be heard anymore. He sighed and pushed himself up from where he was sitting, no use staying around here.

He wondered if Cilan's letter had come already...it's been a while since he heard from him.

-o-

The teen ruffled his hair a little as he stared at the list of numbers and items on his desk. The restaurant, apparently, was a success, for now at least. So far they were able to keep up with their spending and earn some profit, though they couldn't just spend it on anything and everything they wanted. Some of the money went to making the restaurant nicer, some for food, some for ingredients, and so on. There was hardly much left after all that, and the customers have dropped a bit recently...

He sighed. They would probably have to move eventually to a bigger place so that they can serve more people and earn more money. He was sure that he and his brothers could handle the workload, and it would make more customers satisfied too. At least, that was what he thought. Never know what can go wrong...

Playing around with his pen, Cilan glanced at the small clock on top of his desk. It was pretty late, and he would need some sleep to keep up with everything tomorrow. Huh, eventually they might have to hire some people to help them out as well. "Still awake?"

"Yeah...Chili's sleeping, isn't he?"

"Snoring." Cress corrected with a hint of annoyance. "Disturbingly loud snoring, so I decided to check on you."

The middle brother sighed. "I never thought keeping a restaurant would be so hard..."

"Heh, I never thought we would be making this much though." the eldest commented with a small smile. "Judging by how you look though, I don't think we can keep this up by ourselves too long." as if on cue, the younger teen yawned and rubbed his eyes. He could feel the eye bags, and they felt pretty...bad. "Yeah...but where are we gonna get help?"

"Well, we can always try putting up some posters later on. We should probably check out that huge building though; it looks like a good place where we can move."

"Mhm...still, I wish there was another way to earn money besides this."

Cress folded his arms. "Y'know, the gym here closed down yesterday."

"Huh? Seriously?" this was news to Cilan. While the teen himself had never been inside, he knew that the gym leader was a skilled trainer of a lot of types. He wouldn't just stick with one type unlike the other gym leaders, yet would normally choose three specific types: fire, water, and grass.

"The League is actually looking for a replacement gym as quickly as possible. And whoever fills this position would earn quite a lot-"

"Really?" the middle triplet jumped off his desk and faced his brother. "That sounds awesome, but we don't have any pokémon..."

Cress grinned and pulled out something from his pocket that made Cilan gape. Three poké balls.

"N-no way, where did you..?"

"Doesn't really matter." he replied almost too quickly. He then pressed the button, which opened the three spheres and shot out three white beams. They then formed in to three figures that all had the form of small monkeys, each of them having a different color and typing. "Panpour!"

"Pansage!"

"Pansear!"

"If you don't mind, I'm taking Panpour. What about you, Cilan?"

Said boy glanced between his brother's chosen pokémon and the guy himself, and saw that they were eerily similar in a way. Looking at the other two pokémon, he was pretty sure that Pansear would fit Chili nicely, so..."I choose Pansage." he muttered. The grass type approached him and the teen squatted down to pick him up. "Okay, partner, let's do this." the pokemon cried again in agreement. Cilan was getting tired though, and decided to save his excitement for tomorrow. Now he had a pokemon...this was completely unexpected for him, alright. He wondered how Ash would react to this-

"Oh shoot! I haven't written a letter to Ash yet!"

"I bet he can wait for a few more days, right? You better sleep, you can write that letter tomorrow. Anyway, you'll be more psyched for it once you see Chili dancing with his Pansear." said fire type looked confused, but either way was excited to meet his new trainer soon.

-o-

_To Ash:_

_Guess what, I have a pokemon now! It's a Pansage, which is only here in Unova, so I'm pretty sure you don't know it. It's a grass type, and it's pretty quick too. It's really friendly though, just seeing it makes me feel better already._

_Anyway, sorry for taking so long in writing you another letter, Ash. I have a lot of things to take care of now. I swear the days are flying by the window..._

_By the way, Ash, when's your birthday? I remember a long time ago with your first letter that you said that you were nine, correct? That means this year you'll be turning ten. I bet you're excited to become a trainer, huh? It is quite fun, I can tell you that._

_I really have no more time to write, but I'll always set aside some time to write to you, I promise that._

_Sincerely, Cilan_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Ne, omg, I'm really sorry...boring chapter is boring. OTL I couldn't really think of anything to add, and eventually the story (thankfully) started writing itself again and presented itself some good stuff for the next chapter. XD Yay, expect a battle scene~

Anyway, sorry for it being short and...boring. Like a filler. Gosh, I feel like fail. And this stomachache doesn't help.

Review, please? 3


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